MyVoice: Views of our readers 16th February 2024

A great symbol of communal amity

Our PM Modi inaugurated the BAPS Temple in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday. This temple is symbolic of communal harmony, as the chief architect is a Catholic Christian and the UAE Ruler His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed played a huge role in making this temple a reality. Coming close on the consecration of Ram Lalla Temple in Ayodhya, the temple at Abu Dhabi has certainly added to joy of Indians staying in an Islamic Nation like UAE and is an excellent example of proliferation of all religions together. No matter what religion and faith one follows, all religions preach love, unity, equality, tolerance and non-violence. The temple at UAE is thus a symbol of religious tolerance and brotherhood.

Parimala G Tadas, Hyderabad

Electoral bonds secrecy blow to democracy

The unanimous ruling by a 5-judge constitutional bench of the Supreme Court struck down the Electoral Bonds Scheme that allows anonymous and unlimited donations to political parties as unconstitutional and violative of the right to information about transparency and accountability in political funding and, by extension, democracy. The apex court has cited the scope for ‘quid pro quo’ as one of the reasons for scrapping the scheme. In its words, no company or corporation donates money without the intent of securing benefits in return. The BJP is the biggest recipient and beneficiary of the electoral bonds; it has pocketed over 80% of them, more than a lion’s share. Huge corporate donations in the form of electoral bonds to the ruling party have denied a level-playing field for all political players and given it more resources to fight elections. Now that the country’s top court has ordered to make the details of the ‘transactions’ hitherto made under the now-annulled opaque scheme public, we will come to know who has funded whom and how much and judge it all ourselves.

G David Milton, Maruthancode, TN

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Infringement of the Right to Information is not justified for the purpose of curbing black money. The SC has delivered a unanimous verdict on a batch of pleas challenging the legal validity of the Central government’s Electoral Bond scheme. The Apex court asked SBI to provide poll bonds information to the Election Commission. There was no objection to the electoral bond scheme except its opaqueness. The petitioner only wanted transparency. The main reason given by the Supreme Court is that it is violative of people ‘s right to information. The government never wanted to disclose the list of donors and that became a point of dispute. Secondly, the bill has been found not consistent with its objective of curbing black money.

C K Subramaniam, Mumbai

YSRCP must push for three capitals

Y V Subba Reddy has erred and the damage to the ruling party has already accrued. Any explanations and taking umbrage behind the media distorting Subba Reddy’s statement won’t help it redeem the lost face. The joint capital issue is a closed chapter and there is no need for the ruling party to harp on the same citing certain pending matters with regard to the implementation of the AP State Reorganisation Act 2014. The ruling party in AP should concentrate on establishing the proposed executive capital in Vizag city first and shift the High Court to Kurnool city with a bench at Amaravati. I expect the YSRCP, which is hoping to retain power in the ensuing assembly polls in about 3 months from now, might take up the issue once and for all with renewed mandate of the people of AP. Failing which, the winning combination of the TDP+JSP+BJP would pitch for Amaravati as the sole capital city of the State. Subbareddy has unnecessarily raised the issue of joint capital only to divert the attention of the people from other pressing matters with which the people are fed up with.

Govardhana Myneedu, Vijayawada

Huge relief for Indian wrestling body

The United World Wrestling’s decision to lift the suspension imposed on the Indian Wrestling body is indeed a big respite for Indian Wrestlerswho now can participate in international competitions and can prepare themselves for the Paris Olympics. But it should not happen that due to this positive development, a bigger issue is ignored by the Wrestling Federation of India. Allegations of sexual harassment by women wrestlers are serious and must not be brushed under the carpet, otherwise it would be travesty of justice. Ultimately, what matters to the young women wrestlers and their families is that they should feel safe and secure in getting this sport. And that should be top most priority for the sports ministry and Delhi police must file its report without any further delay on its findings against Brij Bhushan Singh.

Bal Govind, Noida